Disclaimer:
The material below is not intended to provide medical advice and we don’t encourage the illegal use of any substances. Most psychedelics are potentially illegal substances, and we do not encourage the use of these substances where it is against the law. Due to the high demand for the subject, we created this article for educational purposes. The content is for educational purposes only.
According to the study, the subjective effects of psychedelic experiences can be categorized into reproducible and predictable subtypes that are associated with lasting improvements in mental health. These subtypes show significant differences in baseline demographic characteristics, measures of mental health, drug type, and dose. The study suggests that maximizing personal and mystical insight experiences associated with psychedelics may be crucial to optimizing the therapeutic benefits for patients in clinical settings.
Researchers collected data from almost 1,000 individuals who had previously used psilocybin, LSD, Ayahuasca, mescaline, peyote cactus, and/or 5-MeO-DMT. Using a machine learning analytic procedure called cluster analysis, the researchers identified specific subtypes of psychedelic experiences and their potential relationships to different mental health outcomes.
Participants were anonymous and had reported experiencing moderate to strong psychedelic effects in the past, which led to subsequent improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression.
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Past clinical trials
Research into the therapeutic effects of psychedelics on humans went through an abrupt halt following their 1971 prohibition, before being revived in the mid-’90s by researchers in the US, Germany, and Switzerland. Research over the next two decades has now left us with a considerable body of knowledge on psychedelics. Separate studies have so far established the efficiency of psychedelics in treating particular psychiatric symptoms: Psilocybin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), LSD in helping patients with end-of-life psychological distress, and Ayahuasca for the treatment of major depression.
A host of related studies are currently underway at multiple clinical establishments across the world. These include Johns Hopkins Medicine in the US, where researchers are probing the potential use of psilocybin to help with smoking cessation, Alzheimer’s disease, eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa, Lyme Disease, and PTSD, among others. Elsewhere in the US, the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has reported that 67% with moderate to severe PTSD showed remarkable signs of improvement with MDMA therapy in stage III clinical trials. In another study by the mental health care company COMPASS Pathways, 30% of participants with treatment-resistant depression were in remission after a single 25mg dose of psilocybin.
Results for many more psychedelic trials in mental health treatment are expected to be released in 2023.
